/m/airport

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Did the TSA person ask for your ID at all? If so, what did they do, just let you go through?

Yes, I said that I didn't have it on me. At the time I thought I had lost my wallet. He was frustrated, but let me go through. This happened on a Connecticut to Minnesota flight, I'm not sure if that makes the difference. Of course, when I got home I found my wallet in my other pair of pants.

Just out of curiosity...how do incidents like these hit the news wires? Did the TSA agent call someone? How do they know who to call? I've always been puzzled about how things like DUI's for a utility infielder no one has though about in 30 years and such make the wires.

edit: Also, I guess what happens in Vegas doesn't not necessarily stay in Vegas. Let that be a lesson to you degenerates.

well, i travel a lot and i have seen multiple folks told they could not get through security. folks would pitch unholy fits but tsa held firm.

they will accept just about any type of photo id in lieu of the usual but sans that travellers are out of luck

based solely on observation your sitaution is the rare exception

I don't travel all that much -- maybe 3-4 times a year -- but I've flown twice without a 'good' ID...

In one case, on a trip back home -- I simply forgot that I took my license out of my wallet and it was in a pair of pants in an already checked bag... Without rancor or sense of entitlement, I apologetically explained to the TSA agent what happened, he went through what was in my wallet with me -- and let me through with my Costco (grainy B&W picture) card.

In the other, much more difficult case -- my wallet was stolen entirely... Knowing this would be a big problem - I arrived at the airport early, immediately talked to a TSA supervisor, fortunately -- had my old boarding pass from the trip out, and pulled up what I could on my smart phone (i.e., logged into bank accounts, etc). Again - they worked with me and I got home without all that much hassle, all things considered.

I'm sure there are TSA agents who are either idiots, just plain disagreeable, or whatnot...

But frankly, I've always found -- I guess not just with the TSA, but even with something like say... the DMV -- it's a hell of a lot more helpful to the situation if you realize that the person in question is just doing his or her job and isn't out to cause you to miss your flight or force you to spend hours moving through multiple lines in a fruitless effort to get to the right window.

Funny thing how treating someone like a human being, asking for assistance rather than demanding service, and simply recognizing that the person in question -- who's doing whatever 8 hours a day, 5 days a week -- is better positioned to assist if they're so inclined and you're genuinely seeking assistance rather than barking meaningless orders, makes so many things easier.

My one problem with the TSA was when they went home long before my flight left, and so although I arrived at the airport over an hour before the flight took off, I was not allowed onboard because there was no security check available for me to go through. It was a small airport, and my flight had been delayed to a time at night when apparently they don't have normally scheduled flights, so the TSA had just gone home and screw you if you arrived at the airport after they left.

well, i travel a lot and i have seen multiple folks told they could not get through security. folks would pitch unholy fits but tsa held firm.

they will accept just about any type of photo id in lieu of the usual but sans that travellers are out of luck

based solely on observation your sitaution is the rare exception

I have actually read somewhere that they can not require ID for domestic flights (int'l flights require a passport, of course). If you do not have, or won't produce ID, you are to be subjected to extra screening (luggage search, full "wanding" etc.).

Funny thing how treating someone like a human being, asking for assistance rather than demanding service, and simply recognizing that the person in question -- who's doing whatever 8 hours a day, 5 days a week -- is better positioned to assist if they're so inclined and you're genuinely seeking assistance rather than barking meaningless orders, makes so many things easier.

Regarding the Vegas airport, precisely which passengers are not under the influence, angry, or aggressive there? McCarran has the worst waits to go through security of any airport in the United States and it's always crowded with drunk people.

Funny thing how treating someone like a human being, asking for assistance rather than demanding service, and simply recognizing that the person in question -- who's doing whatever 8 hours a day, 5 days a week -- is better positioned to assist if they're so inclined and you're genuinely seeking assistance rather than barking meaningless orders, makes so many things easier.

This seems to help when your flight is cancelled, too.

Heh... amen to that -

I had a flight back from Mexico on vacation that involved a rather silly (but much cheaper when I booked!) layover in Dallas... basically, I landed at 11 PM and had a 5 hour layover before a 4 AM final leg home.

My intention was always seeing about either finagling my way onto a better flight (either a quicker connection or a longer layover).

When I landed, I got in line -- apparently, behind another bunch of people dealing with a cancelled flight.. while person after person was screaming at the attendants at the counter, I figured my chances were pretty slim.

I got the front, smiled, and exchanged some pleasantries --- and voila... not only did I get a fee-free flight change to a 9 AM flight, but the attendant also gave me the same hotel voucher the others had gotten... so I got a free night at a pretty nice hotel, a meal, free transport back-and-forth, and a much more reasonable flight back... and all it cost me was a few minutes of smiles...

One good thing to know that I didn't know (until I did): an expired driver's license is no longer valid ID, TSA-wise, even if the expiration date was only yesterday.
TSA reform is one of those things I'm just sure the President will get around to, now that he's been re-elected.

frequent flier status and/or willingness to pay has a huge impact on row assignment. certainly first class but then also other rows are typically blocked out unless you have a particular status with the airline. or if you are willing to pay extra as airlines have some sort of 'economy plus' program in place. typically that applies to the rows immediately following the first class area

Southwest has long had a reputation as "Cattle Call" airlines because of the policy of no pre- assigned seating. This turned out to be an absolutely brilliant policy on 9/11 because a major part of the hijackers' plans involved sitting in first class on the chosen flights so it would be easier to get to the cockpit...no such strategy could exist on an airline where you couldn't guarantee seats up front, thus eliminating Southwest as one of the airlines targeted.

The only thing I know for sure is that if William Shatner is on the plane, he gets a window seat next to the wing.

And I'll just wait for the next flight, thank you.

How does that work with private planes? TSA inspects every flight?

I can speak from personal experience that flying is like many other things in life - if you have enough $$$, the rules don't apply to you. If you have enough $$$, the TSA doesn't even exist as far as you and your private flight are concerned...no questions asked whatsoever...not only here in the US, but even when landing in foreign countries that are known to be US-friendly (I wouldn't want to try getting that friendly, no-harassment treatment flying into some place like Tehran, however, no matter how much $$$ you may have).

I can speak from personal experience that flying is like many other things in life - if you have enough $$$, the rules don't apply to you. If you have enough $$$, the TSA doesn't even exist as far as you and your private flight are concerned...no questions asked whatsoever...not only here in the US, but even when landing in foreign countries that are known to be US-friendly (I wouldn't want to try getting that friendly, no-harassment treatment flying into some place like Tehran, however, no matter how much $$$ you may have).

The big issue with private flights is the flight crew usually knows the passengers by sight. That reduces a whole slew of security concerns.

There is no TSA for private flights but as I recall there are customs, though far more lenient.

I was once waiting in line at security when a woman in front of me pitched a holy fit about taking her water bottle through. She was railing about how she had a sinus infection and needed to be constantly hydrated, ignoring/not cognizant of course of the fact that a mere 20 feet away on the other side of security there were 40 shops that would be more than happy to sell her a new bottle of $5 water. She was adamant though and eventually TSA let her through with the bottle.

Southwest has long had a reputation as "Cattle Call" airlines because of the policy of no pre- assigned seating. This turned out to be an absolutely brilliant policy on 9/11 because a major part of the hijackers' plans involved sitting in first class on the chosen flights so it would be easier to get to the cockpit...no such strategy could exist on an airline where you couldn't guarantee seats up front, thus eliminating Southwest as one of the airlines targeted.

I was once waiting in line at security when a woman in front of me pitched a holy fit about taking her water bottle through. She was railing about how she had a sinus infection and needed to be constantly hydrated, ignoring/not cognizant of course of the fact that a mere 20 feet away on the other side of security there were 40 shops that would be more than happy to sell her a new bottle of $5 water. She was adamant though and eventually TSA let her through with the bottle.

Those people piss me off to all hell. If I ran security, there'd be a policy that all whiny ######## will be searched and screened until they miss their flight.

Southwest doesn't assign you a seat pre-boarding, but it's not a wild free-for-all either. They assign you a priority number, divided into groups, and when the flight boards, passengers are lined up by priority number. For example, your number might be A-33, which would mean you would be in Group A and would line up between the person with A-32 and the person with A-34. Once on the plane, you pick an available seat.

No more. Boarding order is still assigned when you check in, but you can check in online 24 hours prior to flight. They've essentially moved The Stampede from the gate to the internet.

I don't think Southwest does non-stop transcontinental flights anyway

At least one of the 9/11 flights was Boston to Chicago. Southwest has nonstop flights for that.

I was once waiting in line at security when a woman in front of me pitched a holy fit about taking her water bottle through. She was railing about how she had a sinus infection and needed to be constantly hydrated

Chug it or dump it, then refill it on the other side. I'm disappointed they let her through.

But sometimes I can't select a specific seat purchase (I can only choose aisle or window)--maybe that's different by airline.

It is.

If you book by phone you're more likely to be asked "window or aisle?" because they don't want to waste any more time with you than they have to - time spent with you is time not helping someone on hold - and that's easier than asking specifically what seat you want or having you describe your eHarmony compatibility with airline seats.

When companies started setting up online sales, some simply repeated online the same questions they'd ask on the phone - even if those questions were designed to sacrifice choice for expediency, which online sales don't have to do. Other companies figured out that allowing the full choice of open seats for online customers was a positive, and set it up that way.

Must be. I generally fly United/Continental and Jetblue and have always been able to choose my seat/row with the exception of first class and, anymore, the emergency row which they charge extra for.

Pro tip: If you're cheap and willing to risk that the rest of your plane is full of cheap people, sign up for a regular seat, and then ask to change to the emergency exit row at your physical check-in for free. I'm hoping they don't close this loophole any time soon.

Like the $5 water bottle, it's not the money so much as the principle.

re: the $5 water, I was more making a dual joke that she had one of those particularly snooty bottled waters and that airline shops are notoriously expensive. For accuracy's sake she probably could have purchased one for $3. Which is still pretty outrageous, but carry on.

I fly about 100K miles per year, mostly on United and American, and Southwest has the most organized boarding process by far. On United it's impossible to tell who is actually boarding and who is just crowding the boarding area anxiously waiting for their group to call. On Southwest, you get assigned a place in a group of 10 passengers so it's completely clear when your group is boarding. Southwest also doesn't charge for checked luggage so in theory there is less of a battle for overhead space.

Jet Blue tip: if it looks like the flight will be full when you pick seats online, don't pick a shitty seat. If the regular economy section ends up full, unseated economy passengers get seated in the extra leg room economy seats for no extra charge when they get to the airport (and since people rarely upgrade, you may get the whole aisle). Worst case, its not full and you end up in a middle seat like you would have anyway.

"Busted" is a really terrible word to use in this headline. That's a word that's normally used to describe someone who is arrested for carrying illegal drugs, or at least breaking the law. The choice of it here seems, at best, thoughtless.

I actually had a talk with Southwest about this a few years back, when I lost my wallet in Tucson, and had to fly across country a few days later. They told me they would be able to get me on my flight, but that I should show up a little earlier so they could sort the mess out with TSA.

Another Jet Blue tip, which applies specifically to flying into Long Beach. If you sit way in the back, you'll get off the plane quickly. Long Beach Airport has no jetway ramps; instead, they roll staircases or portable ramps up to the plane. But they'll open both the front door and the back door, which is why the back empties quickly.

What would you call Baltimore to Austin? Used to fly that one, both ways about twice a month. It's not too bad though at least going south, which is downwind.

Southwest doesn't do the "cattle call" per se. They have different lists for boarding. "A", "B","C", and then all the late folks. Makes things a lot more orderly when you only have to compete with about 20 people or so on your designated list. I was an "A" lister, since I was a frequent flier, so boarding on SWA was a snap for me. I usually got the seat I wanted, first row behind biz, on the aisle.